Caruaru

Caruaru's Feira is one of the largest markets in the north-east, running through the week with a section for everything - livestock, tools, hammocks, cured meat, leather, herbs, junk - and it was the subject of the Luiz Gonzaga song that fixed it in the national imagination. The other half of the town's reputation is Alto do Moura, a district of potters where Vitalino Pereira dos Santos, known as Mestre Vitalino, began in the 1930s modelling small unglazed clay figures of sertao life: cattle drovers, funerals, dentists, bandits, musicians. The tradition continued after his death in 1963 and the street is now lined with workshops, with a museum in his house. Caruaru's Sao Joao runs through June and rivals Campina Grande's.

What you actually see

• The Feira de Caruaru - a market covering everything, running all week.
• Alto do Moura - a street of potters' workshops making figurative clay.
• Mestre Vitalino's house - the museum to the man who started the tradition.
• June forro - a month-long Sao Joao rivalling Campina Grande's.

When to go

All year; June for Sao Joao. Two days.

Honest expectations

The fair is crowded, hot and chaotic - go early. Alto do Moura is very commercial now and quality across the workshops varies widely. In June the town is full and prices rise steeply. The drive from Recife is slow at weekends.

Nearby

Nova Jerusalem is south-west; Recife is east down the BR-232.